Tracy Edser is from Johannesburg, South Africa. She trained in a program called "Photojournalism and Documentary Photography" for one year at the Market Photo Workshop. Following this training she got an assignment, under a Tierney Fellowship Grant, to film a documentary titled Amelioration. This documentary was exhibited internationally as a solo exhibition and won her acclaim. This lead her to get involved with more collaborative assignments. "Window Rawanda" is a photo documentary project which Edser filmed while working for three years for "Operation Smile", a volunteer mission, which is a non profit organization. Edser was motivated by culture and politics of Rwanda where violence was a common feature in the form of mass killings and genocide. Initially her intent was to photograph scenes of rape but felt that such a depiction would not project the entire story of the country. Hence, during her second visit to Rwanda, and during her daily routine of travelling between Kigali and hospitals at the outskirts of the city she took split second photographs from the window of the moving vehicle in which she was traveling. She put these pictures in series and presented it for international viewing under the title "Window Rwanda". This series consisted of black and white pictures of villagers engaged in their daily chores, children playing on the road side, women with fruit baskets on their head, and people engaged in group discussions, but there was no accompanying explanatory text. In producing this series she noted:"...While we were never as poor as those I met on the project, I recognized a commonality of experience. I saw the project as a way of disrupting the political and photographic stereotype usually associated with this subject. While my intentions are neither to sentimentalize nor seek sympathy for the subjects neither is it to ridicule." Point of View Female project established in 2010 Damien Poulain, a London-based graphic designer and art director, selected Edser's photographic series "Window Rawanda" for a solo exhibition held in Johannesburg during 2013. Edser is presently engaged as photographer for an international non-profit organization covering whole of Africa.
